North Carolina Considers 24 Hour Wait and Ultrasounds Before Abortions

State legislators waded into the social divide over abortion on Wednesday, taking up legislation that would add new requirements like a 24-hour waiting period and an ultrasound of the fetus.

North Carolina is one of 16 states that don’t require counseling before an abortion, and half require women to wait between counseling and the abortion procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research organization that supports abortion rights. Ten states require a pre-abortion ultrasound that provides a visual image of the developing child’s features.

Supporters told a House judiciary committee that the additional requirements would give women a fuller picture of what’s at stake, including the approximate age of the developing child and the medical risks of an abortion technique. Opponents said the bill aims to make abortions more difficult and expensive.

Frankly, the only thing that surprises me anymore at this point is that there are still states that don’t have either of these restrictions in place already. Then again, 86 percent of the counties in North Carolina have no providers, so perhaps they just didn’t see restrictions as that necessary to begin with.